The present invention relates to a television advertisement reduction apparatus. Advertisements have become a significant part of television broadcasts. However, many viewers find television advertisements unpleasant or annoying. Because of the frustration and inconvenience provided by television advertisements, there is a need amongst the known art for an improved system for reducing the number f television advertisements that are aired during a desired television program.
There are a few known methods of blocking advertisements that are aired during television programming. Some of these methods involve analyzing broadcaster-derived metadata, sensing color changes or “fadeouts” that are associated with commercial breaks and using community-controlled identification tags wherein a plurality of users can label an advertisement with an identification tag. Once these advertisements are identified, a pre-recorded television stream can be edited such that the advertisements will be skipped or blocked.
However, these methods may be inconvenient or improper where the user wishes to view some advertisements, while eliminating others from the television stream. For example, an individual interested in a specific activity may prefer to have the option of viewing advertisements that are related to that activity. The present invention seeks to resolve this problem in the known prior art by implementing a system within an apparatus where a viewer is given the choice of viewing a specific advertisement or skipping the specific advertisement.